Suchergebnisse

Although Israel has long owed its security to the quality of its armed forces, things have changed recently. In the face of Hamas, Hezbollah, international jihadists, Iran and ultra-radical Jews, the intelligence services have become the first line of defense for the Jewish state. These services comprise three agencies: Shin Beth, in charge of domestic security; the Mossad, which handles foreign intelligence and operations; and Aman, the military intelligence agency. The ultra-modern Unit 8200 is an intelligence corps that is part of Aman and one of the most advanced agencies in the world in fighting cyber-terrorism. These agencies are extremely efficient (Kidon, a secret unit of Mossad, has carried out numerous 'extra-judicial' assassinations outside the country), they work around the clock and are given all the resources they need by the country's leaders, many of whom have themselves spent part of their careers in the intelligence services. Adapted from the source document.

That a "Revolution in Military Affairs" (RMA) took place in the early 1990s is widely known. The concept was born of technological, political, social, and economic changes that were to fundamentally alter the future of warfare, introducing a completely new type of military and organizational structure for the effective projection of force. Though most experts accepted the reality of a fundamental transformation in the practice of warfare, few saw that a parallel revolution was occurring in the intelligence world, even though this specific field of national security was undergoing similar challenges and change. Adapted from the source document.

Terrorist groups active in the Sahel region have been routed by French forces in recent months. Hundreds of radical fighters and several key leaders have been eliminated and almost all of Mali has been taken back. This is attributed to the excellent preparation and execution of Operation Serval and the support offered to France by all border states, combined with the weak local powerbase of the Islamists and the internal divisions within the various radical groups, as spectacularly illustrated by the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), which switched sides. This secular Tuareg organization, initially allied to the hard-line Salafi group Ansar One, itself linked to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). was ousted by its partners and ended up fighting against them, alongside French forces. A note of caution, however. Although it has been considerably weakened, the jihadist threat has not been eradicated completely. Adapted from the source document.

Discusses the state of French Intelligence Studies, opening with a look at why the field developed late in France. It is asserted that, although there was an absence of a genuine intelligence culture in France, there exists a diverse national intelligence production comprising mostly memoirs & accounts of former intelligence staff & journalistic writings; French publications since 1884 are briefly overviewed. After touching on academic neglect, the 1990s emergence of French academic Intelligence Studies is examined, & challenges impeding the development of the field are further addressed in terms of the need for the subject & discipline to be well defined. Figures. D. Edelman